Vice Versa
by alwaysconfuzzled
Summary: A new COLA, a series of decidely dangerous events and a return of old and new faces alike, things, as always, aren't looking great for those at Fenton Lodge... Rated T for violence and language and some goriness. Random pairings
1. New Friends

**This is my first SHAPESHIFTER FIC!!!!! YAYS!!!!!**

**WARNING: This chapter contains LANGUAGE!!!!!!!!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.....if I did Jenny would be dead. I do so hate Jenny.**

* * *

Among the breathtaking backdrop of the Cumbrian fells, hidden from humanity in the haven of Fenton Lodge, were eleven of the most amazing beings in the world. And on that particular day, eleven of the most amazing beings in the world were having double geography.

Dax lolled across his desk, grinning. He was trying to concentrate on what Mrs Dann was saying, but this was virtually impossible due to Gideon levitating a whiteboard pen to write on the board several swear words, which was leaving the entire class in fits of laughter. So far Mrs Dann hadn't noticed but as soon as this thought went through his head Mrs Dann had whipped out a klaxon from the "Cola Control" draw of her desk and sounded it. Simultaneously, eleven of the most amazing beings in the world squawked and put their hands firmly over their ears.

"Better," smiled Mrs Dann tightly. "Now, who can tell me what I've just been talking about for the last five minutes, hmm? Dax, why don't you sta…" A sharp knock at the door alerted them to Principal Satre's presence. "Good morning, everyone."

"Good morning Principal Satre," they chorused in reply.

"I would like you all to meet Sophia. I believe she is a COLA like you." Silence. Open mouths. Not exactly the best of greetings. A tall skinny girl in equally skinny jeans stepped into the room. Dax could tell she was nervous – she was trying to hide behind her fringe and she was looking quite decidedly at the floor.

"Mrs Dann, would you mind if Sophia came and joined in on your lesson?" said Principal Satre pointedly.

"No, of course not. Sophia, why don't you come and sit down. There, there's an empty seat next to Dax." she said. "I'll just get you some paper.

"Hey," Dax said. "Whats up?". Startled, the girl snapped her head up and looked at him in surprise.

"Oh, um, hey," she said nervously, flicking her fringe out of her eyes. Dax, in an attempt to be friendly gave her a quick smile before turning back to his work. Sophia paused, just for a second, and smiled as well.

Dax blushed.

* * *

"Sophia, you have to tell us what you can do!!!!" Mia begged, slumping down next to the new addition to COLA club.

"Jesus, people, give the girl a break, shes only been here two minutes!" chided Lisa.

"Um...guys, yo-you don't, um... my name's not actually Sophia. Its Sophie, okay? It says Sophia on my birth certificate, but I'm called Sophie," the girl said. "And I have no idea what you mean by what I can do, I- I mean all I did was beat the crap out of some girls at my school and I end up on the other end of the country! I mean p-please, would someone care to tell me what the hell is going on?!""You beat up the kids at your school?" asked Darren "Cooool."

"Hey, their fault, not mine" Sophie muttered.

"But you still haven't told us what you do!" cried Jennifer. "Oooh, I know, I'll introduce everyone!!!! Ok, I'm Jennifer, and I'm a glamourist, so I can go invisible, Barry, the one with his face in the biscuit tin, can do that as well," Barry gave a sheepish wave. "The one with his face in a book is Clive, hes our resident math geek, but he's got no powers, "The bespectacled boy in question gave a small squeak of indigence but smiled warmly. "Spook and Darren are illusionists, they can can make you see...um...well, illusions," Spook flounced over and thrust out his hand to shake, which Sophie looked at very warily. "Lisa is a medium, Jake and Alex - best mimics _ever_and telepathic, erm, those too are Luke and Gideon, they're telekinetics, Mia's a healer and Dax is a shapeshifter!"

Sophie raised an eyebrow. "Oh my god, I knew it! They've taken me to the wacky shack!"

"No honestly,"said Lisa. "We can actually do that stuff you know. Dax, show her!"

Dax smiled inwardly and flickered into fox form.

"HOLY MOLEY!!!" yelled Sophie. "BLOODY HELL!!!!! H..h..how..did y..ya..."

DAx grinned to himself and turned back, looking sheepish.

"So what do you do? he asked, trying (and failing) to be casual.

"Yeah, what did you do to those girls?" asked Darren, eagerly.

"I may or may not have blasted them through a wall...."

"HOW?!" persisted Darren, getting worryingly excited.

"Well, they nicked my purse...and I got kinda pissed off and I freaked and, they went through a wall....."

"So, you're a telekinetic?" said Gideon, delight obvious on his face.

"No, I don't think so, 'cos look, when I ..erm, chucked them, I kinda told to like....to "go get your ass kicked" and then there was a crash, and they were in the next classroom crying..."

"Awesome...."said Lisa, eyes wide.

"My teacher obviously didn't think so, I would have been expelled if Mrs French-lady hadn't dragged me to the other end of England. So yeah, anyone mind telling me what the hell is this place?"

* * *

Dax clambered down from his lofty position on the roof of the tree-house, attempting to ignore the biting northen winds as it buffeted the branches on which he was so precariously balanced. Glancing briefly at his watch he realised it was past six, and he had missed dinner. With a groan, he leapt down from the platform . He was so going to get it when he got back up to the lodge. He was about to shift to falcon and take the short cut back up to the hall where he could hopefully fix himself a snack, when he saw a vaguely familiar figure wandering towards the lake, looking decidely lost.

"Hey, Sophie!" he called, jogging over.

"Thank god!" she cried. "_Gideon _told me to go see the treehouse which apparently is just behind Fenton Lodge. Here I am, two hours later, no treehouse in sight!"

"Um, Sophie?" Dax pointed somewhat guiltily over his shoulder. "Its over there,"

The girl took a second to glance at the tree in question, before looking really, really embarassed. Dax laughed. "C'mon, I'll show you the adventure playground."

"You people have an adventure playground? Is there anything you people don't own?" Dax grinned and showed her the playground, an extenisve set of apparatus snagged through the trees.

"Hey, try this one! Its really fun!"

"Um, dunno 'bout you, but that one looks kinda high...." Dax laughed.

"Don't be silly, c'mon!" Doubtfully, Sophie began to climb up the side of the tree after Dax, until she let out a sudden scream.

"NO!! LET ME DOWN!!!" she shrieked, gripping tightly onto the metal pegs.

"Hey, hey, hey, calm down. Look, give me your hand, ok? I'll help you up." Dax gripped her shaking hand. "Ok?" he asked softly. Sophie bit her lip, and again tried to scramble further up the tree. But, somehow, her foot managed to miss the next spike and the girl twisted. Dax felt his wrist twist also, and failed to maintain his grip on her skinny wrist. There was a sickening thud as she landed on the pine needle covered ground having fallen a good six or seven feet.

"SOPHIE!!"

* * *

**oo-er whad'ya lot think of that huh?? REVIEW FOOLS REVIEW!!!!!!!!**

**Word Count: 1,303**


	2. Shocking times

Chapter 2- Vice Versa- Shapeshifter, Ali Sparkes

Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I did there would be far more than a measly FIVE books in the Shapeshifter series.

* * *

"SOPHIE!!"

Dax leapt down a knelt down to the pale unconscious girl, desperately patting her cheek with the palm of his hand.

"Sophie, please! Wake up! Oh god, please, wake up!" To Dax's immense relief, the girl stirred and her eyes flickered open.

"Dax? I...I.... th' ort I.....told ya ...notta let go..." she slurred, green eyes cloudy and unfocused.

"C'mon" Dax hauled the semi-conscious girl into a standing position. Sophie slumped against him, arms draped around his neck. "Can you walk?"

"Dunno.."

"Alright then, I'll carry you."

"Are yo...are ya sure? I'm kinda ...kinda heavy..." Dax sighed and hauled Sophie into his arms. She was practically the same height as he was, but (thank god) she was reasonably light and he managed to lug her all the way to the medical room where a very concerned Janey bustled in and immediately started fussing in her professional, logical manner.

"What on Earth happened?" Dax managed to pant out a very brief explanation of the recent events.

Janey sighed. Dax guessed she was probably used to all the COLA madness by now.

After checking Sophie's eyes, and doing some necessary but nonetheless painful prodding, Janey finally came to a conclusion.

"The good news is that you haven't broken anything or done yourself any serious damage, which after a fall like that is very lucky. The bad news is you got quite a jolt to the head which means you've given yourself concussion and quite a nasty headache. Now I can give you asprin for the headache, but for the concussion, your just going to have to take it easy for a few days. Alright?" Sophie looked decidely annoyed.

"Three hours I've been here and I've already done myself an injury! Great, what's next, huh? Blowing up the place?!"

"Hey, that's Clive's job," Dax laughed. " He blew up the science lab last week!"

"Clive...... oh yeah, the little neeky one with the bad hair! Urgh, his clothes make me wince! I mean, seriously, brown, purple and yellow?! Bleee."

* * *

"Principal Satre," thought Dax, "Should go down in the Guinness Book of World Records. For holding the MOST _boring _french lesson EVER!! I mean, honestly, how many conjugations of etre are there? And was it really necessary to write them out 15 times?!"

It had been three days since "the adventure playground incident", and Sophie was fitting in quite well. Turned out she wore glasses (much to her embarrassment) but usually wore contacts, had a guitar called Gigi, and despised curry. They discovered that after she ran from the claiming to be sick when Mrs P served up Chicken Tikka Masala, and stuck quite obstinately to bread for the rest of the meal.

Dax picked up his pen and made a start on the frankly terrifying french verbs when one of the guards, who usually worked on surveeillance, burst in.

"We have a COLA breach of security. Mr Jones here has been leaking information."

* * *

**Oo-er. A cliffie YAYS!!!!! Ok i hope on getting a beta on this, but 4 now just REVIEW and tell me wot u ppl think. chapter 3 will b up vair vair soon.....**

**thanks 2 my lovely parentals, i hav been temporarily BANNED from the computer. i am only allowed on it 30 mins a day. which when ur writing 2 stories, aint great......... DONT KILL ME 4 SLOW UPDATES!!!!**


	3. Teardrops

Chapter 3- Vice Versa - Shapeshifter, Ali Sparkes

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Well actualli i do cos otherwise i would b a hobo, but....god why do i need a disclaimer?? Would ali sparkes relli be pratting around on fanfic? no, no she would not.

* * *

What?" asked Lisa slowly, rising to her feet. "What did you say?"

"Mr Jones has been leaking information. I'm going to have to ask him to come with me." Dax felt faint. Did people really believe he would do such a thing? Desperately, he looked round the classroom, searching for signs of disbelief, but to his horror, he found none. Each face wore the same expression of fury, hate and betrayal. Only Sophie offered any sign of comfort; she looked confused and was silently mouthing _what the hell is that guy talking about?_

"Dax," Principal Satre's clear voice sliced through his frenzied thoughts. "I suggest you go now. Lisa, please sit down." Slowly, Dax stood up, the legs of his chair scraping against the floor, and walked dazedly to the door. The soldier roughly pushed him down the corridor, his eyes narrowed.

"Oh god," thought Dax. "What the hell is going on?"

---

"Now, Mr Jones. I suggest you tell me exactly what's been going on. Stat."Armitage observed the shapeshifter over the top of his silver rimmed and no doubt very expensive glasses. "That means now."

"I haven't done anything, I swear! Honest to god, I didn't tell _anyone _about the COLA club."

Armitage sighed. "I haven't got time for this. In the meantime, I don't want you outside at all. No shifting, no visits, nothing. You stay indoors, no  
phonecalls, no letters. Anything it takes to end this little alliance. I want you watched twenty four- seven, and we're going to have to get you tagged. Any funny business, we'll know, understand? Now get out of my sight. I honestly haven't got time for this."

Dax walked slowly out of the office and down the stairs. Lessons were finished and most of the COLA's would be messing around in the common room before dinner. Feeling filled with sudden apprehension, he nervously opened the door. The room went silent, apart from Sophie tuning her guitar in the background.

"Oh look, its Dax, the little traitor," Lisa spat, flicking through the pages of Tat Magazine.

"Can't help but ask, mate, how long have you been grassin' out on us, huh?" Gideon's voice was horribly cold.

"I haven't, I swear...." Dax was cut of as Spook rammed him into the wall. A second later a fist smashed into his side.

"Save it, dingo. We don't want your lies." Spook aimed for another punch and Gideon looked as if he was seriously considering joining in.

"Hey! HEY! Cut it out, guys! What the hell do you think you're doing? Who are you to dish out punishments? Justice and revenge, man, get that into your tiny head. Now please, keep it down, I'm trying to practise for my Grade 2," yelled Sophie, glancing up from her guitar.

Spook narrowed his eyes at Dax, before flouncing out. The door slammed behind him.

Dax, still breathing hard, scrambled to his feet. Glancing round the room he met nine pairs of cold eyes. His own eyes brimming with tears, the  
shapeshifter stumbled out of the room, not wanting to cry in front of his so-called 'friends'.

"Nice, guys. Really nice," a sarcastic voice muttered.

---

Dax sat on the edge of his bed, face wet with tears. He hadn't felt such complete desolation since Owen 'died', and he was quite sure this time it was going to have a far worse ending. The last time _everyone _at COLA club hated his guts was when he failed to warn them about the chips. But this was worse.  
This time he hadn't done anything to deserve it.

"Hey, Dax." Sophie wandered into the room, and sat down next to him, flicking her hair out of her face. "You alright?" Dax didn't reply.

"Hang on, Dax, are you- crying? Awww." Sophie patted his shoulder. "I'm so sorry they're all being so...so... god-damn unbearable. But- but Dax, did you? I...I won't hate you for it, please, I just wanna know."

"I DIDN'T DO IT, OK! Believe me or not, I didn't do it."

"Ok, fair enough. Dax?" Sophie asked cautiously.

"Yeah?"

"Come here," Sophie sighed, and hugged Dax. Dax sighed and buried his face into her shoulder. "Um, Dax?"

"Mmm?"

"You're getting my shoulder wet."

"Sorry."

"Nevermind."

* * *

816 words!! WOOT!!

THANK U 2 MY LOVELY BETA goodythreeshoes!!! I THINK THIS STORY WILL BE MUCHOS BETTER NOW.

anyone readin this, plz take a moment to applause the beta.

REVEIW!!!!


	4. Gideon Amphibeon

Chapter 4- Vice Versa- Shapeshifter, Ali Sparkes

Disclaimer: urgh, why do I even bother...I don't own shapeshifter, comprende?

* * *

"Gideon Reader, get your sorry arse over here, _right now_!" Sophie stormed across the common room, with a look that could honestly kill. Actually, it was more a look that could rip, tear, and grind to a pulp. It was fairly apparent to Dax that she was not particularly pleased with Gideon.

"GIDEON!" Sophie screamed. "Give it _back_!" Gideon stuck his head up from behind the sofa where he had obviously been hiding. Sophie screamed in triumph and lunged for Gideon, who, with astonishing agility, leapt over the sofa and ran towards the door. But Sophie was too quick for him. She jumped on top of Gideon, pinned him mercilessly to the sofa.

"Help!" he yelled, but everyone else was to busy laughing as Sophie repeatedly whacked Gideon with a cushion, screaming insults at the top of her voice. Gideon's head snapped up and he glared at the sofa hard, and it immediately bucked, sending both Sophie and Gideon flying.

Sophie screamed "GIDEON, YOU LITTLE TOAD!", and scrambled to her feet ready to continue the cushion assault, when to everyone's surprise, he had disappeared.

"Where's he gone?" asked Mia, glancing round the room.

"Gideon? Where are you? Gid?" Lisa jumped up from her armchair and started rifling through the sofa cushions.

"Gideon? Argh! A frog! Look!"

The COLA'S gathered round the offending amphibian, each wearing a look somewhere between confusion and fascination.

Clive pushed his glasses further up his nose. "That's not a frog. That's a toad." Simultaneously every head in the room turned to look at Sophie.

That's when the screaming started.

* * *

"I-I d-didn't mean it!" wept Sophie, smothering her face with a rather inadequate tissue. Her eyes were red and puffy, and dark rings of smudged eyeliner surrounded them like inky halos. With her wavy dark hair fanning out from her face in frizzy disarray, she could easily have passed as an extra for _The Ring_.

"Oh Sophie, calm down, you're getting yourself all worked up," soothed Mia, patting Sophie on the shoulder.

"Think on the bright side, you know what your power is now!" grinned Jenny, possibly a little insensitively. Alright, very insensitively, seeing as it made Sophie sob harder still.

"Well, next time someone decides to show off their power, _please_ don't use _me_ as the guinea pig!" huffed Gideon, who had mercifully been restored to his normal yet irritating self. Luke glared at his twin and whacked him over the head with his impossibly large book.

"Cut it out, you two, can't you see she's upset?" scolded Lisa, glowering at the two boys.

Spook flounced over. "I don't see what all the fuss is about. So she turned Gideon into a toad. Big deal."

"She turned Gideon into a toad. Of course its a big deal! Who knows what she could do!"

Barry piped up at this point. "Yeah, she could like, make food come out of thin air or sumfink!"

Clive shot him a look. "Only you, Barry, only you."

* * *

Gah, that took a while. Right, now time for a future apology: The holidays are over, I go back to school tomorrow. So, limited writing, reading and reviewing time for me I'm afraid. BUT i have some of this story written out on paper, and i will aim to write up AS MUCH AS I CAN!

Thank you to my beta goodythreeshoes, she's the one who has to deal with my HORRENDUS grammatical errors.

alwaysconfuzzled x


	5. Nightmares of Forgotten Toast

Chapter 5 - Vice Versa - Shapeshifter - Ali Sparkes

Disclaimer: why do i even need to do this, it be so tedious......ooh look, there goes my brain.

**Alwayconfuzzled's brain: "**Geromino!!!"

Hang on, bear with me, I've got to go get brain before I can write this story.....**OI!! BRAIN!!! Come back you squidgy loser!**

* * *

Dax shot up in bed, cold sweat beading his forehead as he panted, hands gripping the sheets like twin panicked vices.

"Dax? Dax, are you ok? Dax! Open up!" Someone was hammering on the door. Still disorientated, the shapeshifter peeled off the damp sheets and stumbled to the door. Gideon had asked soon after the whole 'leaking information' business, that Daxbe moved to anotherroom, as Gideon didn't want to share a room with a 'dirty, lying traitor'.

Dax wearily pulled open the door to reveal a very spooked looking Darren.

"Dax are you ok? I could hear you screaming from the other end of the corridor! What's up?"

"Nothing....I'm fine, go back to bed," Dax mumbled, rubbing his hair. It could not have been more of a lie. For weeks now, Dax hadn't been able to sleep, or eat, and not being able to shift was taking its toll. Worst still was the fact that unlike last time he had been sick, shortly before the stroke, everyone had been concerned, trying to help him as best they could. But now he received no such sympathy, no concerned glances, no well-meaning enquiries as to how he was feeling. Sometimes he was sure it would be better for everyone if he just curled up in a ball to die. He looked thin and pale; dark smudges ringed his eyes and every bone just seemed to jut out.

"Seriously,mate, you look as if you're about to pass out!" Darren protested, looking anxiously at Dax, who refused to meet his gaze, looking dazedly at the floor. Darren was right, he felt as if he just black out at any moment. The tiny amount of sleep he did get was plagued with nightmares and few and far between.

"No really, you could like, be a zombie or something....mate? Dax?!" Dax crumpled to the floor, completely unconscious. "Dax!" Darren shook his friend but to no avail. Nervously, he yanked the blanket of Dax's bed and dropped it on top of him. Studying the shapeshifter, he decided he was either asleep or unconscious, and by the looks of it, it was probably the latter. Biting his lip, Darren turned and walked out into the deserted corridor, pulling the door shut behind him.

Spook was going to kill him for this.

* * *

"Alright, Dax?" said Sophie brightly, as she plopped down opposite him at breakfast the next moring, flicking her wavy hair out of her face. "Sleep well?"

Dax glared at her.

"Obviously not, then," she muttered, chomping on her toast. "I heard you last night, y'know. Dax, if your getting nightmares and stuff, maybe you should talk to someone. I dunno.....Janey?"

"They don't care."

"_Dax!_Of course they care! Just because some of them are being a kinda mean and stuff, doesn't mean they don't care! Look, I know..."

"NO! You _don't _know! You have _no idea! _SO STOP PRETENDING YOU CARE!!" Dax yelled, standing up. Sophie stared at him, her half-eaten toast, forgotten, in one hand.

"_Dax.."_

"Save it," he hissed, and stormed out the room. It wasn't until he was halfway up the stairs until he realised just how badly he had screwed up.

_

* * *

_

Right, thats the next chapter. I have _started _on the next one but i hav been sooo busy with school crap so writin has been takin 2x as long as usual. which is a shame.

i need help tho, cos i need an opinion; do u think it would ruin the fic i f i brought a _lot _of violence into this fic? cos in about chapter 6 ther is gonna be major violence. as in torture. unpleasant stuff. do u think that will be ok??


	6. The return of Fireball Girl

Chapter 6 - Vice Versa - Shapeshifter, Ali Sparkes.

WARNING: Angst

* * *

Dax couldn't sleep. Admittedly, he could hardly sleep at the best of times, but the mix of howling wind and the relentless patter of rain on the window was more disrupting than usual. However, worse still was the muffled chatter coming from the common room. As 10 o' clock ran on to midnight, and still Dax had not slept, he scrambled out of bed and padded down the corridor. Now he was closer to the common room, Dax could clearly hear that the COLA'S were having some kind of 'midnight feast'. Dax sighed and tentatively swung open the door.

In an instant the warm friendly atmosphere dissolved, leaving only the icy shards of spite and hate. In perfect synchronization, the COLA'S turned their heads to glare at the intruder, save for Sophie, who was some bizarre reason lying upside down with her head on the floor, and Darren, who was fighting viciously (and losing) with a coke can.

"Oh, turned gatecrasher now have we?" sneered Lisa, her voice far more contemptuous and haughty than usual.

"Look, I only wanted to ask you to be a bit quieter..." but his excuse fell on deaf ears.

"Oh, so you think you can just swan in here and start telling us what we can and can't do? God, you're such a _killjoy_," Gideon snapped. Dax flinched; Gideon was his best friend, and he didn't really appreciate the remark.

"What have you got against me? I haven't done _anythi_-."

"SHUT UP! Shut up, you _liar_!" screamed Mia.

"Huh, Mia?" Sophie had by now twisted into a sitting position. But she paused and her eyes widened as she saw that Mia's usually violet-blue irises had gone a eerie obsidian black. "Mia-"she started, but her words soon morphed into a scream. The next events happened so quickly Dax had no idea which order they were in. A punch of hot air, a bright light, Dax swinging his arm up to protect his face, the terrible, searing, burning pain.

As he fell back, he was barely aware of someone screeching his name.

"DAX!"

* * *

I know this is REALLY short, but the next chapter will be up within the next few days, I just really wanted to leave it on this cliffie.

Okays, I have a bone to pick with you people, over 45 people have read this story, and I have five reviews. Which I find a little depressing. So even if you hate this story and think it is THE WORST story EVER, please tell me, cos I can make it better. OR if you don't understand something, let me know and I can explain it. Its a simple request.

Okays, I have had a few questions about this which I would like to answer:

1. Owen, as of Stirring the Storm, is in Spain. Lucky him. This is why he does not appear in this story. Yet.

2. Some of the characters ARE a little bit OOC. Wouldn't you be if your friend might have just betrayed you?

3. For anyone who thinks that Dax betraying them is not a good enough reason for all this hatred is slightly misunderstood. THe COLAs have been fed a story by Armitage, who is not what he seems...

alwaysconfuzzled x


	7. Damages

Chapter 7- Vice Versa - Shapeshifter, Ali Sparkes.

Disclaimer: Me no claimy, you no suey. Comprende? So shoo, lawyers, shoo.

* * *

"Dax? Dax, can you hear me?" Dax could vaguely hear voices, but his head and arm were throbbing so hard now, it was all he could do not to pass out. "DAX!" The voice was back again, this time with more urgency. Dax manged to crack his eyes open, gritting his teeth against the shrieking pain in his arm. Clive was kneeling down on his right, frantically checking Dax's arm, pushing his glasses up his face at double speed.

"Oh gracious me, this _exceedingly _bad, I think this is classed as a third-degree burn..."

"Quit with the neek talk, smart arse, tell us how bad it is in _plain _English,"Darren cut in, having deserted his coke can on the floor.

Clive looked a little put out. "Very bad."

Sophie squawked and leapt to her feet. "I'll get Janey," she announced and ran out of the room, hands flapping madly.

"Fuck it Mia, why aren't you doing something? Help him already!" Darren fumed. Although she flinched a little at the bad language, Mia made no move to help, she just stood there, observing the scene with wide eyes, one hand partially covering her open mouth.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Darren?" said Spook, dangerously. "Didn't you hear what Armitage said? Dax is a traitor! I can't believe your helping him!"

"Yeah, well, I don't know if your short-term memory is impaired, but if you ask me, Dax has always pretty much been there for us, so I don't know why the hell you're just standing there, unless you're more than a bastard than I thought!" Darren hollered. Spook hesitated, mouth opening and closing like a lost goldfish in a puddle, looking somewhere between upset and furious. Before anyone could say anymore, Spook uttered a very girly squeak and flounced out of the room, slamming into Janey as she bustled through the door.

Tucking her dark hair behind her ears, the doctor looked exasperated as she observed the scene. "Is there _anything_ you lot can do without _someone _ending up hurt?"

* * *

"Hey, Dax," said Sophie, next morning, bouncing into the medical room. "Feeling better?" Dax did his best to offer her a smile, but it was a slight fail. Oblivious, Sophie carried on. "Janey said she'd given you lots of painkillers and stuff, so I'm guessing your arm doesn't hurt as much now, right?" Dax sighed. She was right, in that his arm didn't hurt, but the pain inside was the worst imaginable; the feeling of utmost betrayl - Mia, someone he considered a really close friend, had tried to kill him.

"Oh, Gideon told me to give you this," Sophie paused to dig out a slightly squished bar of cadburys from her jean's pocket. "Don't worry, it's not poisoned or anything. Well, it shouldn't be, 'cos Gideon was about to eat it and all, but then he came over and told me to give it to you...yeah." Dax smiled at her and accepted the chocolate in his unbandaged hand.

"Well, at least one good thing came of it. You burnt your tag off, right?" Dax snorted with mirthless laughter. About a week ago, Dax had been called out of Maths to have a large, cumbersome plastic tag fitted on his wrist, with the knowledge that if he shifted, went outside or wasn't confined to his room after 9 o'clock at night, surveillance would know. And, as Armitage had so delightfully put it,'the consequences wouldn't be pretty'. Admittedly, the consequences to this event had not been pretty either, as Dax had seen the strange, red, puckered skin on his arm and had watched as Janey peeled off the melted and twisted tag which had partially melted into his skin.

Clive had run from the room to be sick. Twice.

Dax had felt like puking as well.

As Sophie carried on chatting in the desparate attempt to make him feel better, a small cough at the door alerted them to Mia, who was standing in the corridor, looking like someone had just stabbed her hamster with a fork, and forced her to eat it. Raw.

Mia mumbled something completely incoherent, before starting sobbing uncontroably, begging for forgiveness.

"P-please, Dax, I d-didn't m-mean to hurt you," she wept," Let me f-fix it,"

Feeling a little awkard, Dax said "Janey said I shouldn't take the bandages off..." But Mia persisted.

"I feel so bad though, let me see a least see.." Mia started unwrapping the bandage covering Dax's arm. Mia gasped. Sophie gasped. Gideon gasped. Gideon? Dax's head snapped up to see his once best friend standing in the doorway, the expression on his face one of complete horror.

* * *

**855 words enough for you?**

**In about two chapters time, stuff starts getting crazy (rather like in the books) and I have NO IDEA what ppl are gonna say. Cos this kind of violence is gonna be a little bit new to the shapeshifter fandom - oh yes, breaking the mould.**

**As in torture. **

**Yeah.**

**OMG, I FEEL SO EEVIL NOW!**

**I got my sister to beta this chapter. Thanks!**


	8. Drying Acid

Chapter 7 - Vice Versa - Shapeshifter, Ali Sparkes.  
6/7/10 - 859 words

A/N Oh God. PLease don't hurt me. I'm gonna shut up now and get on with the chapter because I get the horrible feeling if I say anything you will hurt me FOR NOT UPDATING IN ALMOST TWO MONTHS!

This chapter is un-betaed, I will post the betaed version soon.

Disclaimer: I don't own Shapeshifter. Woe is me.

WARNING: Mild angst in this chapter

* * *

Truth be told, you could have sliced the atmosphere with a knife. Or maybe a chainsaw.

Gideon's eyes flickered briefly over the scene, before, with a mask on unreadable emotion on his face, he stalked away.

Dax's heart plummeted. He hadn't expected anything more, but maybe... maybe he _hoped_ Gideon would stay. And that last tiny strand of hope had just been burned away by the acidity of rejection.

"Oh", said Sophie, bowing her head slightly. "I thought he might stay."

"Yeah," Darren agreed. "Me too." Mia looked over at Dax sympathetically, sending a powerful wave of healing, but he avoided her gaze.

Janey had a fit when she found Dax had taken off the bandage, and proceeded to give a half hour lecture about risks of infection, but Dax wasn't listening. He barely paid any attention when Clive came over later to tell him what he had missed in lessons, and Clive had eventually left him and gone to help Sophie and Jennifer who were killing themselves over their Maths Homework. Dax's head was _pounding_; every movement made his head throb with dull pain and his limbs felt as though they were made of lead. Eventually, his head slipped forward as he succumbed to the darkness.

It was a little over an hour later, when Luke came downstairs in search of his book, when he saw Dax was still in the common room. He frowned, coming to the conclusion that Dax must've fallen asleep by accident. He put his book carefully on the chair and prodded Dax, none too gently, in the shoulder. He didn't even stir, just slumped down a little more onto the desk.

Luke bit his lip. Was he able to talk, he probably would've tried the shouting "Wake up!" technique or at least called someone else to help. But he didn't have either option.

He walked back up the stairs and was starting along the corridor when Lisa slammed into him, 5"7 of blonde fury. Luke winced and tried to remember anything he could have done or _thought_ that would have made her so angry. To his relief, she walked past him and instead hammered on the door behind.

"JENNIFER! Give me back my hairdryer!" she screamed. The door clicked open before swinging weakly open to show Jennifer, with a hair dryer in hand and a very indignant look on her face.

"No! I need it! Sophie dropped mine in the bath and now it won't work!"

"Aw, c'mon, it's hardly my fault; it wouldn't come out of the plug." Sophie put her head round the door holding her straighteners.

"That gives you no right to steal **my hairdryer**!" shrieked Lisa, fuming.

"But I...oh, hey Luke...need to dry my hair!"

"Luke, what are you doing here?" Luke, having finally got their attention, pointed urgently down the corridor. He remembered with an annoyed sigh he had left his whiteboard in his room.

"What the hell Luke?" asked Lisa, frowning.

"Oh, do you want paper?" said Sophie, still smoothing down her freshly straightened hair. Luke nodded and Sophie ducked inside her room to reappear a minute later with a notebook and biro.

"_Dax is in the common room – fallen asleep – can't wake him_" Luke wrote hurriedly.

"Ugh, Dax," snorted Lisa, snatching her hairdryer out of Jenny's fingers and marching back down the corridor.

Sophie put her straightners on the floor and started out of the room. "Coming Jenny?"

Jenny considered it for a second. "Ok," smiling in what she thought to be a pretty way at Luke, who grimaced slightly.

Halfway down the stairs, Sophie gasped and started sprinting back to her room.

"I left my straightners on!" she cried. "They'll burn the place down!"

"Can you get my hairdryer off Lisa?"

"Hell no! She'll kill me..."

"_She has a point,"_ Luke wrote, earning a glare of Jenny.

"Irrelevant!" she squawked imperiously and slightly stroppily.

When they arrived at the common room, Dax hadn't stirred. Or moved. Or much else.

"Dax? Dax, wake up!" he didn't react. "Helloo? Dax?" Exasperated, Jenny had resolved to poking Dax in the shoulder. "He won't wake up." She whined. Luke raised an eyebrow.

"_You don't say."_

"What do we do? Should we get a teacher or something?" Luke shrugged, just in time to see Sophie slam into the doorway. "My bloody straighteners singed the bloody carpet! The teachers are gonna _kill_ me..." A barely audible groan cut Sophie off, and made all three of them whip their heads round to see Dax stir slightly. Eyes bleary with exhaustion, he squinted at them while trying to pull his head up off the desk. "You alright Dax? You look a bit _ill_," said Sophie, walking over cautiously. Dax looked away and staggered out of the room.

"What the hell?" exclaimed Jenny. Luke put his head to one side, a questioning expression on his face. Sophie shrugged. "I dunno, I'll ask him about it tomorrow," she said, clearly puzzled.

* * *

No cliffhanger - thats next chapter...

Now, onto confessions.

I'm so sorry I didn't update sooner.

I HAD EXAMS! ***cowers from teh exams of muchos scarianisms***

ANd also there's the fact I'm very lazee...

And the fact I WAS COMPLETELY DUMB AND STARTED WRITING THE NEXT CHAPTER BEFORE THIS ONE WAS EVEN DONE!** *facepalm***

Well... it does mean I'll get the next chapter to you SOON!

Review, it'll motivate my fingers into writing more. If not, well... it'll make me smile. SPREAD THE LOVE!


	9. Missing Pages

****Peers out of hole** AAGGRRRHH! Ok, ok, don't kill me, I know I said i would update THREE WEEKS ago - and I er, didn't. Whoops. Anyways - I wrote it and fixed most of it today, because I am sick and wasn't at school. Whoop-di-doo. I'm going to shut up now before I give you even more of an incentive to kill me. This is actually only half of what was originally Chapter 9, I'm dragging out the wait a bit more and will post the other half as Chapter 10. On with the show!**

**Disclaimer: I bet Ali Sparkes doesn't have to go to bed at 9.30 ... (sick peoples regulations..)**

Chapter 9 - Vice Versa - Shapeshifter Ali Sparkes.

Double Maths only had one synonym - torture. As Mr Tucker tried wearily to explain algebra to a stricken Jenny, paper planes swooped overhead as controlled by a grinning Gideon, Lisa was trawling through SCN slips while stabbing the desk with a biro, Spook and Mia were chatting in a corner - Spook obviously flirting - while Jake and Alex made kissing noises behind them and Sophie was repeatedly banging her head on the desk, completely ignoring Clive's explanation of factorisation. Dax was staring at his textbook trying to summon the will to live in endless equations that seemed to leer at him. Dax knew textbooks only to well. Bright colours and childish cartoons lulled you into flase implications of easy sums and basic multiplication - only to unleash the full blown impact of quadric equations.

He had no idea how Clive did it. Even his calculator seemed to struggle.

Across the row, Jenny was beginning to look increasingly longingly at her scissors and Luke was staring at the clock looking as though he was trying to will forward time. With a grin slipping onto his face, he realised Luke was willing time forward. Or more - he was willing the clock hands foward, and he'd already cut half an hour off the lesson.  
Gideon, smirking like his face would split, raised his hand.

"Mr Tucker, the lessons finished," he managed, face relatively straight. Mr Tucker feigned shock.

"So it is..oh wait, look what my watch, we've got another half hour left. That's lucky, it would be such a shame to finish the lesson early." With a final 'I know I've won' glare at the rest of the class, he strolled up to Luke's desk. "Nice try lad, but that won't work after the third time," Luke shrugged apologetically.

Sophie leaned across the desk and prodded Dax in the shoulder. "Every time I see a fraction, part of me dies inside."

He laughed dryly, "You better stop now then, the next unit is factorisation,"

"Oh God, why do even need this stuff? Kill me now..." She impaled her notebook with her fountain pen.  
"Dax..."

"Hhm?"

"WHat was up with you yesterday? You just went off... are you ok?"

"Yeah, fine." Dax muttered. Damn, there he was again with the compulsive lieing. True, he didn't want her to worry, but there was the ever looming prospect he ran himself into the ground. He wished Owen were there. He had considered going off to Spain, but it was a virtually impossible ... - security would never let him out and if he did somehow get to Spain, where would he even start? His train of thought was rudely interuppted by Sophie swearing loudly and a clatter of books.

"BLOODY PENCIL! STABBED ME IN THE HAND!"

"Sheesh..." Alex muttered, "Talk about stressy.."

"And you can shut up Alex Teller, unless you want a reprise of English yesterday," Sophie hissed, green eyes narrowed. Alex's repeateded 'Zoo' scene had earned him a whack over the head. Which wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't knocked him off the desk he'd been hanging off. Onto his head.

A faint idea was forming in the back of Dax's mind. Pencil...oh! Hadn't Owen given him that pencil at Lake Windermere? A grin etching itself onto his cheeks he scrabbled madly in his pencil case. No pencil. A frown clouding over the excited grin, he searched his desk. Again - nothing.

"Sophie, did you borrow my pe..." A loud snap burst through the clamour in the room. Dax's eyes roamed wearily to Sophie's hands. His pencil. In half. Clutched in her red painted nails.

Three weeks of bottled up anger exlpoded in a firey torrent of utter rage as Dax ripped the decimated pencil out of Sophie's hands and threw it at the floor, upturning his desk with a hoarse shriek of wild fury.

"D-dax, it was a pencil.." Sophie stammered, blinking in surprise. Dax stared at her incredulously before marching out of the room, shoving Barry from his path.

"Dax Jones, get back here right now," Mr Tucker shouted making for the door, but Dax was gone, sprinting down the corridor.

"Oh shit, what have I done!" wailed Sophie, scooping the pencil up from the floor. "Can I..?" Mr Tucker nodded wearily, and she sprinted for the door, wincing as her pumps bit into her feet.

Hobbling at speeds she originally thought impossible, Sophie cannoned into the locked door of Dax's room.

"DAX! Let me in! C'mon!" Dax did not reply. Sophie kept repeatedly kicking the door until the lock gave way, bursting into the room to see Dax standing by the open sash window, kneeling on the window seat.

"Dax, please, listen to me, you're be irrational.." Sophie tried to pull Dax away from the window, but he pushed her away.

"Shut up! You have no idea, so stop pretending you care, because you don't" Dax hissed, shrugging her off.

"Go to Janey, anyone, they'll understand - your doing this the wrong way -"

"Oh? And what's the right way? WHAT'S THE RIGHT FUCKING WAY SOPHIE?"

"Dax.." Dax just glanced at her.

"Sorry," he muttered before shifting and diving out the window, a falcon before Sophie even had a chance to reply. He swooped out towards the fells, anger blinding him making him oblivious to the danger he was unwittingly approaching. A sudden stabbing pain in his wing brought him to his senses only for a second before grey and black clouded his vision and he felt himself dip towards the ground in panicked stupor. He tried to comprehend what had hit is wing - no arm now - he was shifting, but not yet on the ground...

A sudden gasp and a weak yelp escaped him as he slammed into the grass - he heard a crack and suddenly he couldn't breath, pain marching across his already clouded mind. A blurred black figure came into view before, with some mercy, the grey claimed him.  
The world went away.

Sophie sprinted as fast as she could in her too small pumps, crashing into every corner as she ran madly to the entrance only to be slammed into by a two armed soldiers leaving the building. She cried out to catch their attention, but was ignored and pushed aside. One soldier took her by the arm and tried to drag her away, but she struggled madly - wildly.

Until she heard the shot.

She gasped, sinking down the wall.

Dread marched up her spine, invading her brain with red-hot screaming pitch anxiety.

A shot.

Spook loped down the corridor, grumbling to himself. Dingo and Sophie had 'mysteriously' disappeared, and Mia, being the saint she is, begged him to help look for them. That had been at least an hour ago, and still no sign of them anywhere - but Spook desperately wanted to impress Mia and so grudgingly trod on. He was about give up and go back to the common room, his enormous ego a little bruised, when he heard a faint sniffling noise coming from round the corner.

Weird.

Frowning, Spook carried on down the corridor, to see Sophie, curled up by the wall, sobbing - looking completely desolate.

"Er..." Spook shuffled awkwardly, trying to find a subtle way to attract her attention. "Are you ..alright?"

Sophie sobbed in reply.

"Where's Di...er..Dax?" Spook coaxed, panicking a little. He had no idea how to deal with crying women. Or crying anyone for that matter.

Sophie wailed at this point, before sobbing out something completely incomprehensible.

"Eh?"

"A shot...he ...shot..." she burbled, rocking back and forwards.

Spook blinked.

"You're telling me Dax got shot?" With a wail and a hiccough, Sophie nodded.

"Shit," Spook patted her on the shoulder with as much kindness he could muster. "Holy shit."

* * *

**HAHA! SPOOK HAS A HEART!**

**NEXT CHAPTER UP SOON WITH A TRUCK LOAD OF ANGST!**


End file.
